


Of meeting seniors and finding familiarity in the unfamiliar

by sturmwind



Series: Backstage stories [1]
Category: ENHYPEN (Band), NCT (Band)
Genre: Comfort, First Meetings, Gen, Getting to Know Each Other, Japanese line supporting each other, Jay being a mom, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Mother Hen Jay, Worried members, Yuta is a good sunbae
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-25
Updated: 2020-12-25
Packaged: 2021-03-10 22:40:27
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,541
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28324716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sturmwind/pseuds/sturmwind
Summary: Yuta finds Ni-ki hiding in an abandoned changing room.Getting lost might not always be bad.
Relationships: Nishimura Riki | Ni-ki & Nakamoto Yuta, Nishmura Riki | Ni-Ki & Everyone
Series: Backstage stories [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2075091
Comments: 12
Kudos: 162





	Of meeting seniors and finding familiarity in the unfamiliar

**Author's Note:**

> Merry Christmas to those who chelebrate and a nice day to everyone who doesn't.  
> I love seeing Yuta interact with other japanese idols and have been a fan of Ni-ki since i-land therefore this came to be. Hope you enjoy it!
> 
> +I don't really know how japanese honorifics work, if i messed something up please do let me know.

Yuta was really glad that he went out of his way to use one of the less frequented washrooms of the music station. On his way back to their waiting room he passed an unused changing room and heard quiet sniffles from inside.

Now Yuta was usually not the most comforting person, others like Taeyong or Doyoung did a much better job at it. As he looked through the abandoned corridor, he knew he’d regret leaving whoever was obviously suffering inside especially if he remembered the cue sheet that was hung up in their room. There were a lot of junior and rookie groups performing today.

He hesitated in front of the door, not wanting to impose whoever was insides privacy and ended up knocking on the door. After he knocked a second time and still couldn’t hear any reaction from the inside, besides the sniffles turning into sobs which just worried him more, he decided to go in.

The inside of the small room was dark, and Yuta had trouble making out the small figure that was crouching under one of the make up desks. He closed the door behind himself and made his way to the middle of the room, eyes never leaving the figure.

It was impossible to recognize who it was but based on the height and thin form he guessed it to be one of the rookies. The smaller seemed to not have noticed the approaching and as he came near, Yuta could see that he was shaking and clutching something in his hands.

“Hey, can you hear me?”, Yuta was not sure how to get the others attention but based on the sobs getting quieter he seemed to have done something right. “Can you look up for me please?”

The other slowly looked up and met Yuta’s eyes before hastily bowing. “Yuta sunbaenim sorry for bothering you”, the smaller was hard to understand as he was still sniffling.

“Hush that you don’t bother me and there is obviously something bothering you”, Yuta sat down on the floor in front of him, “What’s your name?” 

The answer took a while to come but was given as a quiet and unsure “I’m Ni-ki”. Yuta watched the other calculating, “are you Japanese?” “Yes sunbae.” “Oh, lucky that I found you then isn’t it? You don’t really sound too confident in Korean jet.”

Ni-ki’s face turned red, but he stopped sniffling and a small smile appeared on his face at the sound of his native language. “Now I assume something happened for you to end up here, wanna tell me what it is?”

“I tried to find the bathroom, but I got lost and my phone died so I can’t call any of my hyungs and we had our first broadcast stage today, but I did so bad and I couldn’t understand anything.” Yuta sighted and took Ni-ki’s hand, trying to get the younger to listen to him, “Ni-ki-san I’m sure you did great and even if you messed something up your members won’t be mad about it.”

The small wince told Yuta that his assumption was right. “You’re the youngest, aren’t you? Maybe talking to them would help. The one thing we always make sure new members know is that they can always talk to anyone without being judged, communication is key in all relationships but especially in our line of work it can be a matter of make it or break it you understand?”

Ni-ki nodded, “I know I can talk to them, but it is still hard to really express myself.” “That part gets better, I bet you already improved your Korean, haven’t you?” The younger broke out in a smile and nodded.

“Now, why don’t we get you back to our waiting room, I bet my managers can find out where you’re supposed to be and if they somehow can’t, we can at least charge that phone of yours”, Yuta reached out his other hand for the crouching teen to take.

Said teen hesitated, “Are you sure that’s okay? I really don’t want to impose?” “Listen kid, how old are you? I would never want my younger members to be left without help and you will definitely not bother anyone.”

With that the younger took the offered hand and was pulled up to stand in front of Yuta, “Huh, you’re taller than I thought you’d be.” The older led him over to the door, not letting go of his hand.

The senior glanced at the teen and took in his tense form, “We have a bit of a walk to do so why don’t you tell me about your group kid?” “I’m the youngest of Enhypen and we just debuted a few days ago.” “I remember the time when I just debuted, how many of you are there?” “We’re seven.”

Yuta continued to talk with the younger while they made their way through abandoned corridors, pulling him in and throwing an arm around him as they started to pass other people.

Ni-ki kept his head down as they passed the more crowded hallways in an attempt to hide his red eyes and therefore didn’t notice as they arrived at the elders waiting room.

The teen was led inside where he stopped for a second and tried to take in the chaos going on around him. Yuta settled him on the sofa inside the room which grabbed the attention of the other people inside. The young idol was suddenly surrounded by a crowd of nct members who were all eager to know what happened for him to be there.

“Yah guys you’re overwhelming him”, Johnny got the group to back off as Yuta let go of the younger to talk to one of their managers. Jaemin sat down next to the boy and introduced himself wanting to know more about the obviously younger boy.

Ni-ki stuttered at all the attention his seniors were giving him but introduced himself with a deep bow. Someone asked how old he was, and they all looked slightly taken aback as he told them he was 15, born in 2005.

He was quite sure he heard Jaemin mutter something like “Oh so much younger than my Sungie” but before he could even ask there was a knock at the door and a familiar blond head appeared.

“Excuse me sunbaenim, have you seen a tall blond- “, Jay stopped in his words as he got a clear view of the room, “Ni-ki! We’ve been looking for you where did you go?” 

It barely took a second for Jay to cross the room, wrapping his maknae in his arms pushing through the crowd of nct members that were present around Ni-ki. Jay sighted as Ni-ki relaxed into his arms, “Gosh we were so worried, please don’t run off like that again hun, alright?”

He let go of the younger and finally got a look at the others face, still slightly red and splotchy from all the crying he did earlier and started tutting while fussing over the Japanese.

Jay only registered the other people inside the waiting room after someone cleared their throat distracting him from the blushing boy. As he looked aside, he was met with a bunch of their seniors watching them fondly. “Oh my god sunbaenims I’m so sorry I didn’t mean to barge in like that without asking or greeting you.”

Johnny smiled at him reassuringly, “Don’t worry, you were obviously worried about him we all get that don’t we?” he made eye contact with some of his members who all made sure to nod, exclaiming his statement.

Ni-ki buried his face in Jays shoulder, successfully reminding the older of his mission. “It was nice meeting you sunbaenims, but we should really get going”, to the still hiding boy he added “the others are worried as well and I’d like to avoid giving Jungwon a heart attack right after our debut, I’m sure he will have enough of that in the future.”

The younger chuckled at that. Jay grabbed his hand and focused back on the others. “Thank you for taking care of our maknae and again sorry for interrupting your work”, he pulled Ni-ki down with him as he bowed deep and made his way to the door, guiding his maknae with him as the others reassured them it was no trouble at all.

Just before they reached the door, Yuta rushed over and gave Ni-ki a small paper. “If you ever miss home too much or just want to speak some Japanese you can always give me a call or text”, he smiled as the blond boy lit up, profusely thanking the older.

“I hope we can meet again Yuta-san.” Yuta laughed and ruffled the others hair, “Sure kiddo now get back to your members we don’t want your leader” at that he turned to Jay who gave an affirming nod, “to have a heart attack so soon into your career.” The two boys laughed at that and left the room, making their way back to their own waiting area.

And if Ni-ki teared up again at his Hyungs being so obviously worried for him no one was to know as it was all swallowed by Jungwon’s hoodie.


End file.
